Diabetes Mellitus is the most common endocrine disease. This disease is characterized by poor regulation of blood glucose levels in human beings. Blood glucose is the source of energy for basic cell functions. This glucose is driven to the cell by insulin, which is secreted by the pancreas. Diabetes Mellitus is caused by inadequate insulin secretion by the pancreas or the resistance generated by insulin receptors to the insulin. Therefore, this disease is characterized by a metabolic abnormality. Diabetes is a major metabolic disorder in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin and is characterized by hyperglycemia, glycosuria, hyperlipidemia, negative nitrogen balance and sometimes ketonemia. Diabetes is one of the most common diseases affecting human population today.
In India, as per WHO reports, about 60 million people would be suffering from diabetes by the year 2025. This would put India as the #1 country in the world affected from this epidemic disorder. Diabetes among urban Indians has increased from 11.8% in 1995 to 13.2% in 2000. This disorder strikes people during the most productive stage of their lives. Based on recent studies conducted and published, it appears that this disease is caused more by lifestyle and food habits than genetic predisposition for the disease. This is particularly true in urban areas wherein the lifestyle results in people exercising inadequately or tending to eat more processed, ready-to-eat food. This in turn has led to obesity and later, to the onset of diabetes.
Diabetes Mellitus is not curable. Presently, this disorder is managed by taking popular drugs available in the marketplace. These drugs fall into the following categories:—    i. Pancreatic stimulators:—This class of drugs helps to stimulate the pancreas, leading to increased secretion of insulin. This addresses the diabetes caused by inadequate insulin secretion.    ii. Insulin sensitizers:—This category of drugs improves the cell's sensitivity to the presence of insulin, thereby improving the uptake of glucose into the cells, leading to better blood sugar control.    iii. Insulin:—This is exogenously supplemented in the case of people suffering from both type I and type II diabetes.
As mentioned earlier, diabetes is a lifestyle disease and cannot be cured. The current therapies available therefore only offer a blood sugar management mechanism. As diabetes is a chronic, long-duration disease, these drugs need to be taken on a sustained basis. Currently, available synthetic drugs suffer from concomitant side effects caused due to long duration of usage. Literature survey indicates that cardiovascular mortality was higher in patients with oral hypoglycemics than in those treated with diet and exercise alone or with insulin. Sulphonylureas cause hypoglycemia as a side effect. Biguanides cause lactic acidosis. Oral hypoglycemia drugs also cause GIT irritation, weight gain, hypertension, etc. On continuous and constant exertion, the diabetic person is also liable for pancreatic fatigue. In addition, it is also seen that many of the existing drugs available lead to drug resistance in patients with long durations of use.
As mentioned earlier, the long-term complications of diabetes are more damaging. This is caused by spikes in blood sugar in patients during the day. Increased blood sugar even for short periods leads to glycosylation of Haemoglobin. And glycosylated Haemoglobin causes long-term irreversible damages to eyes, kidneys, nerves and blood vessels.
Complications of Diabetes:—A wide-spread pathological change is thickening of capillary basement membrane, increase in vessel wall matrix and cellular proliferation resulting in vascular complications like lumen narrowing, early atherosclerosis, sclerosis of glomerular capillaries, retinopathy, neuropathy and peripheral vascular insufficiency. The level of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is also increased in diabetes and is taken as an index of protein glycoslyation. It reflects the state of glycaemia over the preceding 2-3 months. As such, there is no drug available for the treatment of diabetic complications.
Consequently, the need of the hour is to develop safe and efficacious drugs that can help in the management of blood sugar in diabetes mellitus patients. This drug should lend itself for long-term use without any side effects and without developing resistance.
Ayurveda:—Ayurvedic literature refers to the usefulness of many plant extracts in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. In general, pharmacological studies over the last five decades have not brought out adequate effectiveness of such blood glucose lowering drugs. However, physicians in India who practice Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha use extracts of leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, wood, bark, roots, or even whole plants of more than a hundred Indian medicinal plants for the treatment of diabetes. In Ayurveda, each herb has properties of curbing many disorders. Therefore, the crude extracts of herb have failed in offering clinically significant results in any single disorder. Comprehensive studies on the components of the herb that are responsible for certain indications need to be undertaken to obtain effective medications from this therapy.
Alternative approach/therapy for control and management of diabetes:—In recent years, efforts have been focused on increasing beta cell mass in diabetes through induction of islet neogenesis or pancreatic regeneration. In this context, the role of herbal remedies is highly significant. Ayurveda aims at treating the disease at the root level. Hence, it would be worth exploring the action of selected pure ingredients composition from herbs for their pancreatic viability enhancement and neogenesis potential.
Fenugreek is used to treat diabetes, migraines, allergies and elevated cholesterol in traditional medicinal practices in India. As per the ancient Indian practice of Ayurveda and Naturopathy, fenugreek seed is traditionally taken in a powdered form, or boiled with water, or as a sprouted seed for the control of blood sugar. It must also be noted that Fenugreek in India is used as a culinary spice and as a medicinal herb. In general, the varieties that are used for medicinal purpose have smaller grains, are dark brown in colour and bitter in taste when compared to the varieties used for culinary purposes. At present, there is no documented evidence of better medicinal property of the varieties used for medicinal purposes. Also, it appears that the medicinal effect of control of blood sugar obtained with the consumption of fenugreek seed is widely varying and cannot be relied upon as a reliable agent for control of blood sugar.
Clinical Studies:—Fenugreek seeds contain about 50% dietary fiber if used as a defatted powder. Similar to Guar Gum, fibers present in the seeds may slow gastric transit time. Slowing the rate and extent of glucose absorption in the gut is not likely to be the sole mechanism for hypoglycemic benefit. Sauvaire et al isolated an amino acid present in fenugreek seeds (4 Hydroxyisoleucine) that increases glucose-induced insulin release. Fenugreek seeds contain the alkaloid trigonelline, which has a hypoglycemic effect.
The following human studies demonstrate the role of fenugreek in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes therapy. Madar et al (U.S. Pat. No. 5,847,109) found that 17 of 21 patients with type 2 diabetes had a reduction in 2 hour postprandial serum glucose averaging 30 mg/dL following administration of 15 grams of ground fenugreek seed (these are approximate figures interpreted from a chart; numeric data were not given). Four patients had no significant change in post-prandial glucose measurements.
Sharma et al (European J. of Clinic Nutr Volume 44, Pages 301, 306, 1990) studied fenugreek in type 1 and type 2 patients using an interesting mode of delivery. Fenugreek powder was treated to remove the familiar taste, divided into two equal doses and incorporated into chapati, a type of unleavened bread. A serving of chapati was given with lunch and dinner. In a crossover, placebo-controlled trial with 60 type 2 patients, the treatment group received 12.5 mg defatted fenugreek powder in chapatis at lunch and dinner with isocaloric diets for 24 weeks. This trial found a significant decrease in the area under the curve for blood glucose concentration of 40.6% in the treatment group. A double blind study was conducted using isocaloric diets with or without defatted fenugreek powder in 10 patients with type 1 diabetes for two 10-day study periods. Five of the patients received fenugreek during the first 10 days and the rest received it during the second period. The fenugreek diet significantly reduced fasting serum glucose levels from 271.8±4.2 mg/dL to 196.2±49.5 mg/dL. After ingestion of a glucose load, serum glucose levels in the treatment group were reduced and the area under the curve for blood glucose concentration decreased significantly by 18.7%. Significant reductions in total cholesterol and triglycerides have been documented with the use of fenugreek. Lessly Fowden, Helen Empratt and Alfred Smith of the Department of Botany and Microbiology, University College, Gower Street, London did a very detailed study of Fenugreek seed and identified an Amino Acid—4 Hydroxy Isoleucine in fenugreek seed. They published their findings in Phytochemistry, 1973, volume 12, page 1707 to 1711 under the title “4 Hydroxy Iso Leucine from seeds of Trigonella Foenum Graecum”. This paper explains a detailed method for extraction & purification of 4 Hydroxy Iso Leucine from Fenugreek seeds. They have also explained a method for identification of this amino acid. They suggested ethyl alcohol & water extraction of ground seeds of amino acid followed by ion exchange separation. This crude extract as per their method was further purified & crystallized to give a pure compound of 4 Hydroxy Iso Leucine. Their structure elucidation was also explained in the above article.
In 1989, N. W. Alcock, David H, G Grocet et al of Department of Chemistry University of Warwick published a detailed paper in Phytochemistry Volume 23, page 1835 to page 1841 of 1989 titled “Stereochemistry for the 4 Hydroxy Iso Leucine from Trigonella Foenum Graecum”. They used an extraction process as used by Lessly Fowden to get a pure compound of 4 Hydroxy Iso Leucine. They elucidated the structure correctly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,879 of 1995 title “Treatment of Non-Insulin dependant Diabetes” by Sauvaire et al talk about 4 Hydroxy Iso Leucine for increasing insulin secretion in diabetic patients. Coincidently, the method of extraction and purification used in the patent is same as the one published by Lessly Fowden in 1973 in the prior art. This patent, however, discloses certain properties of 4 Hydroxy Iso Leucine in stimulation of the pancreas to increase insulin secretion. This patent studies the effect of 4 Hydroxy Iso Leucine in animals only. They have disclosed studies invitro in rat pancreas, invivo in experimental rats, experimental dogs and mice. There is no study done in patients suffering from diabetes mellitus.
Ingestion of Amino Acid:—Protein Mixture leads to a significant increase in the insulin secretion response to Type II Diabetes, Diabetes Care 2003 26, 625-630 by Dr. Luc J. C. Van L Maastricht University, Netherlands. The insulin response to carbohydrate consumption with Type II Diabetes is enhanced by administering free Amino Acid/Protein mixture. The Researchers examine the insulinotropic capacity of a mixture containing free Leucine and Protein in Diabetic Patients. They find that compared with carbohydrate ingestion alone, co-ingestion of the amino acid protein mixture led to significant insulin secretory response among Type II Diabetes. This is tripled as per the study.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,847,109 of 1998 title “Galactomannan products of compositions containing the same by Garti et al claim method for Isolation of Fenugreek Galactomanin & use as a nutraceuticals in reducing post-prandial glucose, insulin response & cholesterol levels. They have quoted results of a one-week study on 22 subjects for this claim. The quantity of fenugreek derived galactomanin administration to them was 10 grams.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,877 of 1999 by Peter Chang describes a process for the fractionation of Fenugreek seeds & extraction of the various fractions such as soluble dietary fibre, deflavoured fenugreek seed, high protein fenugreek meal, etc. There is no reference to any diabetic treatment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,495,175 of 2002 by G. B. Rao et al describes ‘a method for obtaining substantially pure fixed oil, Oleoresin & dietary fibre from fenugreek seeds. There is no mention of any diabetic treatment with any of these compounds.
The hypoglycemic effect of the alkaloid Trigonelline of fenugreek seed has been explained in the publication ‘LANCET’ 1967, 2 [7529] 1311-2 title ‘Hypoglycemic effect of trygonelline by Mishkins K Y J, Joseph B, Suleman F G et al.